The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1887-08-06

of 1916.
The price OF glass thereafter seems to
have stiffened little, as | find bj the old
bills of AN ottawa merchant that SxlO glass
cost him S2 70 per box Of 100 feet In
Wheeling, w. Va, in 1853; 1Oxl2 glass
also cost him, at that date, 81 % per box Of
100 feet AS showing how business was
done then, may be parioned for here in.
serting this bill II runs rs follows:
WHEELING, April Is, 1858.
Bot of /. sWEENY & son,
10 boxes lOxl2 Window Glass, SO IS. .S82 50
8 Gro, 2 Z. Walls. .................,
Sc., &c. ................. $500
The above bill was upon six months
time, and the way.bill enclosed was AS fol-
lows:
Shipped, In good order and condition, by
+. Sweeney IL Son, on board the 90 vi
steam boat Editor, the following articles,
marked MS numbered below, which are To
he delivered without delay, 10 good order,
at the port of ST Louis, unto Illinois River
Packet, &c, at 25c per 100 lbs In wit.
uess whereof" &c, &c., and packages are
marked.
80 half boxes 1Ox12 window glass"
&c, ". &c.
The price OF window glass remained
apOut the same until 1857, when the duty
was again cut down To n horizontal ID per
cent. On all sizes and prices. Mr.. Griggs
nas kindly furnished many old bills. run.
ming through these years, none of which
show glass rated at higher figure than
that gwen above, and the l0,o6st price ap
nears In 1859 AS follows:
PITTsBURG, Nov. II, 1859.
Mr.. Il. Y. Griggs, Utana, ~:
Bot of " NJ Nj. GULLY ~ CO.,
Manufacturers OF
WALLS BOTTLES AND WINDOW GLASS.
10 B,xs SxlO Window Glass, 81 10. $2l 90
6 " 9xl2 24O.. Ii Az
SC, &c, c............ .............
Less 20 per cent or 81 - per box OF 100
feet tor SxlO glass.
In 1861 the war came and the duty on
glass was raised from time to time until,
IN 1865, il WAS, AS before stated, about the
same as in 1915 Now let US follow the
price OF glass under this second period OF
protection. The Chief of Bureau Of Sta.
tistics has Furnished us table of prices OF
lass from 1870 TO $780, in his report for
1885. According to this report, glass was
rated in round numbers at Sl3 for box Of
100 feet IN 1870 The price steadily in
creased to 1850 per box In 1876, and then
declined 10 $l3 per box In 1880. These
we're prices fixed by the combinations, in.
side OF which there were violent fluctua.
lions in the dctual price, occasioned 10y
cutting and allowing discounts from prices
stated in the bills of sale; md, as we have
10 deal with the actual commercial cost
we will have recourse again to the evidence
If actual transactions.
have bill Of six boxes of SXl0 glass
from the Ottawa Glass Go. 10 +. \. GrIggs
dated oct 90, 1869, for SO 50 per box of 100
teet, net cash Another from same 10 same
Of April 13, 1872, for IS IL net cash pei
box of 100 feet. Another flom same t.
Same of July ?, 1873, for $40 net cash
Der box of 100 feet Another of Nov TO-
1874, for IS SO net cash. And so the prices
run about the same to the present, averag
ing for Sxl0 glass between 81 and 81 pei
box of 100 feet.
These bills tell the story. From 1850 to
1860 glass sold from 50 to 50 80 per box
nt 100 feet. From 1870 10 1880, under u
tariff from three to four hundred per cent
higher, the price of glass averaged be
tween So and 81 per box of 100 feet
Does protection cheaper glass; Does II
keep the market steady? Between the
Years 1872 and 1873. we see'by the bills
the price of glass changed more than IT.
entire cost in 1859. Instead of securing
uniform prices, Is not the system one OF
organized Instability Can any business
ride safely at anchor upon such tiuctuat
ing, chaugeable and dangerous sea- Tha
glass now Is 20 per cent cheaper than un
der the tariff of lS43, proves only that II il
higher at one time than another under like
protection. The fact remains that 1t WA
over so per cent. cheaper from 1850 to- "
than under either period OF protection
There were 00,0O0 boxes of glass made II
Western Pennsylvania In 1865, according
to the report Of Mr. Weeks for the TENT
census, valued at $3.50. There were 932,
1857 boxes made in the United States ii
1880, valued At $541 per box. oxlO win
dow glass IL now, according to bills of ACT
| nal sale, about 81 per box OF 100 feet, o
100 per cent higher than 1t was In 1861
How wonderfully 20 years of protection
has cheapened glars! -.
| II product Cheapens under protection,
Is In spite OF, not because Of 1t. Improved
methods of proc uction cheaper product
rs, TOR instance, In the manufacture OF stee
ails, which are now made more Oh 'apl
than iron. Then protectionists sieze upo
this incident and say, "See how protectio
cheapens production" But no such ticto
enters the glass industry. Methods of mar
ufacture of window glass remain unchanl
ed, and prote ,tion works Its Legitimate r.
, suit. 1t materially raises the cost OF gl.s
to the consumer. II protection cheaper
: production, why has 1t not cheapened gla -
, And If 1t has not cheapened II In the la
twenty six years, why should 1t In the ne'
, twenty six hundred!
Sandwiched between the two periods {
enormous and steady protection was til
:. low tariff for revenue" known as the "frt
g trade" period, extending from 1916 to 1856
and Its effect upon the price of glass is a
ready determined, knowing the price
I the close of the first and at the beginnin
{ of the second period of protection. II r
, duced the price OF glass from $3.50 In 1S4
10 SO In 1850. Then came protection, An
raised the price OF glass from 81 In lSt
3 TO So 10 per box of 100 feet In 1872. An
a still MIR. Trimble claims that protectio
cheapens glassl The Is per cent. du,
from 1857 to 1861 was still burden and
X clog to the industry Could We have ha
Q absolute free trade In glass, and all that Ell
. tors into TIA DrOductiOn. during this To-